Photo by Síle Moloney
Police said two people were shot at 13 West Burnside Avenue in the University Heights section of The Bronx on Friday afternoon, Dec. 15, at 2.22 p.m. Both were removed to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition they said. Levulose deli/juice bar/café is located at the address.
A police spokesperson later said one of the victims was shot in the stomach and one in the left leg. According to police sources, both victims are employees of a smoke shop. Next door to the deli is a smoke shop called Burnside Exotic. Police were seen at one point inside the location as part of their investigation. We asked police if they could confirm if the shooting happened on the street or inside. The NYPD press office said they were unable to confirm at this time.
Photo by Síle Moloney
An employee at nearby Texas Chicken & Burgers on Burnside Avenue said he heard four or five shots but didn’t see the shooting itself. Asked if people were alarmed upon hearing the gunshots, he said he couldn’t really say but said some went outside to take photos.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Réné from BX Pharmacy, located opposite the crime scene on Burnside Avenue, said he heard one person was shot in the chest and he saw another shot in the leg. Réné said on hearing the shots, people ran into the pharmacy for safety. “Knowing the history of violence in the neighborhood, I locked the door until I saw a wave of blue (cops),” he said.
Photo by Síle Moloney
He said once police arrived, he peeked out the door and to the right of the pharmacy outside Finest Deli and said he saw cops attending to one victim who he said appeared to be shot in the leg. “They seemed to be putting a tourniquet on him,” he said.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Réné said he didn’t know if the victim had been shot outside Finest Deli or across the street and had later fallen to the ground outside Finest Deli. In any case, Finest Deli was not cordoned off as part of the crime scene.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Police had, however, cordoned off the area outside the smoke shop next to Levulose deli on the other side of the street, located at 13 West Burnside Avenue, along with a few other adjacent stores. Ticker tape was also seen wrapped around a few vehicles outside the smoke shop, indicating the shooting may have taken place inside the vehicles. One was seen with the trunk open.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Réné said he didn’t unlock the pharmacy doors again until things settled down.
Photo by Síle Moloney
A female passerby said there had been another shooting a few months prior outside another smoke shop located further down the street on the opposite side from where the latest shooting took place. “They need to do something about this situation,” she said.
Photo by Síle Moloney
No information was immediately available from police regarding a description of a suspect.
Photo by Síle Moloney
The location of the shooting is just a 12-minute walk from the site of a partial building collapse which occurred on Monday, Dec. 11, at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in Morris Heights, as reported.
Image courtesy of Google Maps
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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